Lost Youth
by Jediempress
Summary: A fire destroys a house on Radiant Garden. An object found in the blackened remains triggers a strong reaction from one of the men cleaning up after.


Yeah, so, our storage unit caught fire yesterday and a lot of my childhood stuff was destroyed. I wrote this as a way of dealing with it. Sorry for the angst and I'm not looking for sympathy. I just needed to write something.

I don't own anything.

Lost Youth

"Man, this is…horrible," Zell looked around, taking in the blackened remains of someone's home.

"Yeah," Zack carefully picked his way across what had been the living room. "I don't think anything does more damage than fire. Even if the flames themselves don't destroy, you have the smoke and water to deal with."

Leon was studying the charred circuit box with Cid. "At least no one was hurt."

"Yeah, but," Zell shook his head. "They already had so little."

"Stuff is stuff," Cloud muttered, standing outside of the gutted house. He was staring at something intently as he spoke. "They lost everything once before with the Heartless, they'll get over it again."

"That's just cold, Cloud," Zell folded his arms. "People get attached to stuff, there are memories and all that. It killed me when I realized everything I had was gone after the Heartless came."

Zack glanced over at Cloud. He frowned deeply and walked back toward his ex-boyfriend. Once he stepped over the debris, he turned his head toward what Cloud's attention was fixed on. At first, he could not tell what it was but when he finally recognized it, he bit his lip.

"Cloud…"

The blond did not say anything. After a moment, he crouched down and picked out the item. It was a small, sooty, stuffed unicorn. One eye was melted and the mane was singed.

The other three present stopped what they were doing and were all now looking at Cloud also. The man gingerly picked at the unicorn's horn, an almost lost expression coming to his face. Beside him, Zack angled his head and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I had a unicorn just like this," the younger man whispered. There was a pause and when he spoke again, his voice cracked a little. "And it was destroyed by fire, too."

"Wow, this is bad." Sora's voice drifted toward them. He, Riku and Sephiroth approached the scene, unaware of what was going on. "Good thing no one was hurt."

Riku noticed Cloud and Zack to the side and seeing Zack's hand on the shorter man's shoulder, immediately bounded over. Zack released Cloud to Riku and took a step back. The silvered teen stood before his lover and studied his face carefully.

Cloud was still transfixed by the toy in his hands.

"What's wrong with Cloud?" Sora looked at the man with deep concern, entering the rubble.

"Dunno exactly," Zell shrugged. "He said something about having an animal like that one."

"Cloud's hometown was completely destroyed by fire," Leon explained softly, leaving Cid at the box they were investigating to join Zell and Sora. "Everyone was killed."

"Whoa," the other former SeeD breathed out. "How the hell did that happen?"

"I did it," Sephiroth stated simply. He watched Cloud for a moment then approached the man. Riku shot him a quick look and stepped back, ending up next to Zack. Both observed the other two with a mix of worry and apprehension.

Sephiroth stopped in front of Cloud and waited a beat before reaching out a gloved hand and gently touching the unicorn the blond held. "Nothing I do will ever bring back what I've taken from you."

"No, it can't," Cloud agreed softly. A muscle in his cheek twitched and he blinked once. "But you've done everything you can to give me more than enough to make up for it. This isn't…"

"I know." The older man murmured. "It's about time you did this."

Nodding, Cloud bit his lip and let a few tears escape his eyes. Sephiroth moved back and motioned for Riku who was instantly at his lover's side. The younger silver-haired male wrapped his arms around Cloud and held him while he silently cried.

Sephiroth came over to Zack and the raven-haired man clapped his arm. Zack glanced back at Cloud before turned back to Sephiroth and the two re-entered the burned-out home. Zell and Sora clearly did not understand what exactly was going on but they said nothing.

Leon took a breath. "Hey, Riku? Get him out of here."

As Riku did just that, Leon turned back to Cid. Zell looked like he wanted to ask what all of that had been about but he was unsure if he should. Of course, Sora had no such issue. "What just happened?"

"Strife is finally mourning his lost youth," Sephiroth replied. "His innocence was ripped away from him violently and he's never allowed himself to feel that."

"Seeing that toy, charred like that, triggered something in him and he couldn't deny his pain anymore," Zack further explained, looking rather relieved.

"Oh," Sora frowned deeply. "That's…rough. Poor Cloud."

"He'll be fine once he gets it all out," Zack began digging through stuff again. "We all know how tightly he holds onto things."

"And Riku will be able comfort him," Sephiroth joined up with Leon and Cid. "Actually, I believe Riku with be strengthened by this also. He often feels helpless when it comes to Cloud's emotions and issues."

Zack snorted. "Don't we all."

The six slowly got back to work, clearing out debris and looking for anything salvageable and investigating the exact cause of the fire. It was a painstakingly slow task but necessary. None of them spoke further of what had happened with Cloud but as they cleared away the destroyed pieces of a family's life, they each thought about their own loses and how grateful for what they currently had.


End file.
